


Enter Enjolras

by Meringueotang



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: AU- Modern, First Meetings, Fluff, L'abc - Freeform, Les Amis - Freeform, Living Together, Multi, University, drunk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-12
Updated: 2016-01-19
Packaged: 2018-05-06 08:04:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5409275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meringueotang/pseuds/Meringueotang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grantaire's doing fine, I guess, he's attempting to get a degree in art and music whilst living a shared University house with some of the ABC. Enter Enjolras.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter Enjorlas

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Will actually finish this fic this time. Will try to upload a new chapter every week. Predicting about 6 chapters- ish. Hope you enjoy!

'Can I help you?..' The man at the door said, a guitar slung round his back and music blaring from the speakers further inside the room.

Enjolras stared. His mouth froze up. The guy who had answered the door was not what he had been expecting. Jehan had told him that his new roommate was a classical music student, someone quite 'calm' and 'sedate'. The guy who stood before him was wearing a green vest, black skinny jeans and about a million leather bracelets. Punk music shouted from behind him. The guy fiddled with his hair and shuffled on the worn carpet.

Enjolras snapped awake, 'Yes. I am. I mean I think,' he fumbled with his words,'I'm your new roommate. Jehan said he cleared it with you?'  
The guy nodded and pulled his hair again. 'Shit, I forgot about that,' he pushed the door open,'Come in I guess. I thought you were coming tommorow so I haven't tidied,'

That was evident. Books spilled over onto the floor,the green curtains were tightly drawn. On the floor, a space had been cleared and there was a painting in progress where the carpet should've been. The speakers were balanced on his unmade bed;the sheets covered in paint. On the wall there was a peeling poster of some rock band. The other side of the room, however, was mostly clear. There was a small single bed and a desk free of the clutter that infested the rest of the room.

'What's your name again.....Orange juice was it or..'  
'Enjolras,' interrupted the guy, who was beginning to get on his nerves,  
'Right.' The guy smiled, 'Well, since you asked, my name's Grantaire'  
Enjolras blushed and nodded, he felt a little speechless which was unusual for him.

Before things got awkward, Courfeyrac appeared at the door lugging a large canvas bag behind him. 'Hey,' Courfeyrac gestured to Enjolras, 'You left you're bag out in the hall, I can't drive my remote control car when the hallway is blocked,' he smiled and dumped the bag at the foot of Enjolras's new bed. He turned to Grantaire, 'You're cooking tonight right?'  
Grantaire nodded and Courfeyrac grinned at Enjolras and added, 'I'll add you to the spreadsheet, everyone in the house has to cook once a week,' then, after performing a complicated handshake, he bounced out of the room.

*********  
It was the evening and Grantaire pinned some paper to the wall and began painting the bruised sunset sky.

From his bed, Enjolras could properly take in Grantaire for the first time. He was of medium height, quite muscular and walked with his shoulder's hunched forward. His arms were covered with whirling tattoos but, much to Enjolras's disappointment, they had been covered by a large hoodie to keep out the cold evening. His hair was a black, curly mass that ended just before his shoulders.

Enjolras considered. Eventually he decided that, though Grantaire was not classically good-looking, there was a certain charm in his features and messy looks.

'Enjoying the view?' Grantaire threw the words over his shoulder,  
'Yes it is a beautiful sunset isn't it,' Enjolras said, clearly missing Grantaire's meaning. Grantaire smirked and splashed paint on the wall. Enjolras grabbed a book from his nightstand and began to take notes.

The wind pressed against the window and disturbed the quiet of the cosy room.

Forcefully, Grantaire threw down his paintbrush and turned on his ipod. 'Mr Brightside' was soon blasting out from the speakers. Grantaire flung himself on his bed and drummed along to the beat with a chewed pencil.

Enjolras looked up, his nose twitched but he stayed silent- burrowing his face further into the book. Grantaire grinned and turned up the speakers, tapping the wall with his pencil.

Enjolras's brow furrowed a little but he calmly turned a page in his book.

Grantaire produced another pencil from his pocket and drummed with even more force on an overturned plastic cup on his nightstand.

Just as Enjolras threw down the book and began to complain, the door was flung open and something flew into the room, grabbed the speakers and left. Somewhere down the hall Enjolras heard a voice cry, 'Dinner must be served before any 'fun' is allowed,'. Grantaire groaned and threw his pencil at the retreating form.

Enjolras laughed and asked Grantaire what he would be cooking for supper. Grantaire calmly replied with 'Fuck off,'. Enjolras grinned and, five minutes later, he threw his pen at Grantaire to get his attention and said, 'Fuck off,' with a mischievous smile. He then burrowed back into his book.

Grantaire gave a short laugh and looked up. Enjolras was hunched over the book, his blonde hair curling gently over his eyes.

********

Enjolras gingerly made his way into the kitchen where dinner was supposed to be being served. Eponine was already there and sitting with Combeferre at the chipped countertop. Courfeyrac was collapsed on the sofa with Feuilly sitting on his feet, downing a plate of salmon and lentils. The only place left was a beanbag next to Grantaire's spot on the floor. 

Enjolras took a steaming plate from the kitchen and carefully sat down on the beanbag. He sat up straight and awkwardly. Grantaire took a sip of beer- his eyes flitting up to Enjorlas.  
'This looks good,' Enjolras said, balancing the plate on his lap,  
'Yeah but don't get your hopes up,' Courfeyrac announced from across the room. Grantaire grinned and threw a wad of kitchen towel the at sofa. Apparently Grantaire's ruinous cooking was a running joke in the group. 

Enjolras took a few mouthfuls and cleared his throat.

'So I was thinking,' Enjolras said, 'Of running a group, civil rights, you know, that sort of thing. We could meet up somewhere and debate important issues,'  
'Like what, how fucked up the patriarchy is or something?' Grantaire said, sprawled on his back,  
'Kind of. I want things to change. We can make a difference. Like the canteen here, there aren't any vegetarian options. Or the stupid rules on clothing. There is so much that needs to be done and we can fight for it, together. We can make a difference and, in setting up this club, I believe that change can be made,'  
He took a breath.

'Well I think its a great idea,' Courfeyrac said, sitting up,  
'Me too,' Combeferre added, pushing his large glasses further up the bridge of his nose,  
'You can count all of us in,' Courfeyrac said as the rest of the group nodded. Apart from Grantaire.  
'What about you Grantaire?' Enjolras looked over at Grantaire's back. Grantaire gave a snort, then twisted a little. Courfeyrac coughed loudly.  
'Well,' they all braced themselves, 'I suppose I could fit it into my schedule of doing drawing and fuck all,'  
They all cheered.  
'HEY!' Courf shouted above the din, 'No swearing in the common area,'  
Grantaire groaned. 'Go on,' Courfeyrac insisted, 'Put a sticker on the 'No profanity' chart'.

Grantaire sighed and pulled himself up. He fetched a sheet of stickers from the creaky kitchen draw and went to the fridge door. Solemnly, he placed a cat sticker on a coloured chart that was labelled 'Chart to protect innocent people from profanity'.

Courfeyrac nodded pleasantly.

'Right,' Grantaire said, pulling a golf ball out from his pocket, 'Anyone up for a round of indoor golf,'


	2. The first meeting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first meeting of the ABC is held and Grantaire gets drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the next instalment. Please comment on any mistakes and I'll change them (I'm rubbish at proofreading)
> 
> Hope you enjoy

'I call this meeting to order,' Enjolras said, looking round at the Les Amis in a stern but friendly manner, 'And by call to order I mean literally, the waitress is about to come over,'

An hour into the meeting a debate was already in full swing; they were discussing the pros and cons of genetically modifying humans and plants. Then the door opened and Grantaire swung into the room. Enjolras looked up and frowned a little, then continued putting his point across. Grantaire ordered a beer and pulled a chair a little further away from the table. Leaning back in his chair, he took casual sips of beer in a stoical sort of way. He did not venture to make a comment.

After much 'Debating' the name of the club was decided upon. Grantaire jolted up from his sleep and looked round. Apparently they had chosen 'L'ABC' though what it meant, Grantaire had no idea. He ordered another beer. And then another. Courfeyrac threw him a suspicious look.

Then the door swung open and a burst of cold air filled the room. Someone muffled in scarfs up to his eyes came through. Courfeyrac gave out a ysqueal and, before the mysterious stranger could be identified, he had whirled out of his chair and thrown his arms around him.  
'Jehan!' Everyone cheered and Jehan was soon divested of his coat and sat on Courfeyrac's lap. 

Jehan had recently dyed his hair bright pink and shaved it short at the sides and fluffy on the top. He wore a large spotty jumper that accentuated his thin, delicate form. The effect was rather like a bubblegum coloured duckling.  
'Yo guys,' Jehan chirped, 'Sorry I'm late, the restaurant had a last minute rush and they needed someone to step in,'. Jehan had recently gotten a job in a fancy Italian restaurant and used it as an excuse to refuse to eat pasta and pizza- much to the disappointment of everyone else.  
'And how is my little fruitcake?' Courfeyrac said as he scruffled Jehan's hair fondly,  
'Great thanks. I got some strange looks driving over here but Katy Perry was on the radio and I had to bust some groovy moves to pay true homage to Miss Perry,'  
Grantaire snorted and got out a notebook. Lazily, he began sketching the faces of all those round the table, glancing up every now and then to take a look at Enjolras's shining eyes.

**********

The Musain gradually emptied. Courfeyrac was 'walking Jehan home' and consequently wasn't expected back at the house till the next morning. Feuilly had a job at a bar nearby and had disappeared about halfway through the meeting. All that was left was Grantaire, sprawled on his chair and half senseless from cheap beer. And Enjolras, diligently ordering his papers. 

Sighing, Enjolras turned to Grantaire. He supposed he would have to help him back to the house. He walked over to Grantaire's chair and looked at his roommates's sleeping form. His head was tipped back, his shirt was half open and he smelt of paint and beer. In his hand he clutched a notebook. Enjolras leaned forward. Gently, he teased the notebook out of his hand and looked at it. Should he open it? No. Well. Maybe a little peek. He would be interested to see what Grantaire had done in 2 hours instead of contributing to the meeting. He carefully opened it and turned over the leaves to the most recently used page.

The page was filled with sketches of all the L'ABC: Combeferre's glasses resting on the bridge of his nose, Jehan's fluffy hair and Courfeyrac's smile. He turned the page. On one side was a little sketch of them all huddled round the rickety table. His eyes fell on the adjoining page.

There, filling a whole page, was a sketch of himself, Enjolras. It was carelessly shaded in but the features were carefully marked out and drawn. His hair had even been sketched in, curling round his forehead with the light touching its tips. Enjolras gluped. All of a sudden, it felt very personal; like reading a diary. He shut the book and slipped it into Grantaire's pocket.

Slowly, he reached under Grantaire's arm and pulled it up around his shoulders. Grantaire's warmth seeped through his dark red hoodie. The sudden movement caused Grantaire's shirt to open a big more and Enjorlas could see the tips of a tattoo traced underneath his shirt. He averted his eyes.  
'Grantaire?'  
Grantaire muttered and tried to stumble to his feet. He got about halfway before collapsing onto Enjolras. Unable to stand the unexpected weight, Enjolras fell heavily onto the floor with Grantaire on top of him. He spluttered and gently prised Grantaire off him. 

Eventually, he carried Grantaire in 'Just married' style out of the cafe. Grantaire's eyes fluttered open as the frosty air came into contact with his warm skin and he shivered a little. Enjolras sighed and pulled his scarf from around his neck, carefully folding it around Grantaire's instead. Grantaire smiled and said vaguely, 'Thank you Orange juice' before snuggling into Enjolras's chest and slipping into a beer induced sleep.  
The stars laughed.  
**********

Grantaire's eyes buzzed open. It was like turning on an ancient TV set, it would take a few minutes for the picture to settle. His head was throbbing painfully behind his eyes; whirling his vision. Slowly, as the rest of his brain reconnected, he reached his hand up and dragged it through his grubby hair. Ugh. He'd need to have a shower. 

Twisting round, he now realised that he was in his bed. His shirt was off. Who had...Oh. Grantaire blushed as the memories of last night came back to him. Enjolras must have helped him home and put him to bed. He screwed his eyes shut at the thought. Again a welt of pain pushed through his head. 

At last, he properly opened his eyes and adjusted to the midday light around him. He glanced around and a bright piece of paper grabbed his attention. On his nightstand there was a large mug of coffee and a post it note underneath it. It read 'Morning, hope your headache is teaching you a lesson. (Don't worry, you didn't say anything too embarrassing last night)'. He smiled, relieved that he hadn't said anything about a little crush he had been harbouring for a while (as he was often known to do in a drunken state).

Slowly, he sat up in bed and took a sip of the coffee. The dark mixture warmed him and he took a deep breath. Them got out his phone and flicked down to Enjolras's name.

R- Thx for the coffee. Must get shitfaced more often.

His phone buzzed quickly.

E- Shut up. Alcohol abuse does not deserve a reward. I just happened to make a spare cup.

Grantaire smiled and flexed his fingers.

R- Very sorry for offending your highness. Am enjoying my daily caffeine shot.  
E- Personally, i always go for a chai tea.  
R- Very respectable.  
E- thx, i pride myself in sensible quantities of caffeine.

Grantaire grinned.

R- r u txting in lessons, cos thats highly illegal.  
E- nope. Have been given free period so im revising for a law exam.  
R- mental.  
E- ikr. Gotta go, have to look over some flashcards.  
R- have fun with that

Grantaire locked his phone and smiled. His chest fluttered a little as he put down the phone. He entwined his fingers together. Then he pulled himself up and went for a shower.


	3. Riley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grantaire helps Enjolras get to sleep and a secret is revealed about Grantaire's past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Added some BTVS for one of my friends.:) please tell me about any errors, I wrote this when I was half asleep!

Enjolras tossed again, kicking the sheets restlessly. Grantaire glanced over. It had been like this for weeks, with the mock exams coming up, Enjolras hadn't sleep a wink. Every few hours he would get up and revise from one of his hundreds of textbooks before flinging the book down and trying to sleep. His already pale face had gone transparent from lack of sleep and he rubbed his eyes constantly. Grantaire hated to see him limp into breakfast, dark circles under his eyes and a croaky voice, and make ridiculously strong coffee (he had gone off Chai tea).

Another hour passed. Enjolras turned in his bed. The dark pressed against the window and sent a chill creeping through the room. Enjolras let out a small sigh.

That sealed it for Grantaire, he flicked on the light and sat up in bed.  
'Can't sleep?'  
Enjolras looked up, dark shadows thrown across his face, 'Kind of,' there was a pause, 'Sorry, did I wake you?'  
'Nope. Don't worry your pretty little head about it,'  
Enjolras nodded and fiddled with his sheets.  
'Look,' Grantaire said, 'Its clear your running on some form of sleep deprivation so I'm willing to offer assistance,'  
'Errr...Thank you?'  
Grantaire nodded and reached under his bed, 'Now,' he said, becoming businesslike,'There are two steps to being able to sleep. The first one,' he pulled something out from under the bed, 'is to wear this,'. 

Enjolras stared at what was in Grantaire's hand. It was a hat. It was made of a strange matted orange material and had an odd, spiky pattern all around it. On each side there were dangly bits of wool with pom-poms attached on the end. Grantaire smiled and offered it to him.

Enjolras considered- then took the hat and clumsily pulled it onto his head. It smelt of warmth, Grantaire's colouring pencils and cinnamon. It clapped his curls closer to his face. 'Thanks,' he said in a bemused tone.  
Grantaire nodded solemnly and continued, 'The next is a trick that was taught to me by an ancient medicine man (who I met at comic con). Now, lie down,' Enjolras did as instructed, snuggling down under the sheets and staring at Grantaire. Grantaire gulped.

'Right. Now listen to this tale that he told me, you must pay close attention. Okay?' Enjolras nodded, all seriousness.  
'Now this medicine man was walking in the jungle one day, when he saw a colourful parrot. He became enchanted by the beautiful bird and decided to count how many of them he could see. The medicine man yawned,' Enjolras yawned and buried himself a little deeper in the sheets, 'And began to count. 1........2,3.........4.....5.6..........7......8,'  
As Grantaire counted, Enjolras's eyes began to flutter. He yawned. '27......28.....29,' Enjolras closed his eyes for a second, then pulled them open. '35.....36,37...,,'

Just before he fell asleep, he realised what Grantaire was doing, smiled and said, 'That's a lot of birds,'

He drifted off to sleep.

Grantaire looked at him for a moment: his golden hair curling from underneath that ridiculous hat, his face peaking out from under piles of sheets and his eyes- shut at last in a peaceful sleep.

**********

Enjolras squinted. His evening classes were over and he had been walking home for a while. The rain spat in his face and the wind snatched at his coat. He carried on walking. The grey clouds thickened and growled; there would surely be a storm tonight. He trudged through puddles with increasing speed as he neared the house. The sky glowed with a dense blue light and grumbled.  
The house's orange light glowed through the thin curtains. He tensed his shoulders and rammed the key into the lock. Then he stepped inside and shut the door, slamming the cold in the face. 

He was greeted by cheers as Courfeyrac and Jehan barrelled on top of him and hugged what was left of his breath out of him. He was quickly divested of his coat and given a thick, warm towel to dry his hair.

He walked into the cosy sitting room and rubbed his eyes. Grantaire looked up. 'Glad you could make it Orange Juice,' he said cheerfully and immediately offered Enjolras his place on the beanbag. Enjolras shrugged and said he had to go and revise. Before he had got half-way out of the door he was grabbed by Grantaire and Courfeyrac. 'We are staging an intervention,' Courfeyrac nodded as Grantaire continued, 'We have noticed that, in the past week, you have done not a splash of fun,'  
'Yes, not a drop,' Courfeyrac shouted,  
'And we plan to change that,' Jehan interrupted, smiling, 'I have selected what we are to watch. I'm thinking Buffy the Vampire slayer and then we can binge watch some Friends...... Thoughts?'. Enjolras looked a little bemused for a second, then smiled as he said, 'Okay......Gonna be honest though, I don't know what 'Buffy' is,'.

Courfeyrac fake fainted onto the sofa and had to be revived by Jehan. Balancing a bowl of popcorn in one hand and carrying a huge mug of tea in the other, Grantaire came in. Courfeyrac, now quite recovered, said he would 'look after' the popcorn and squashed onto the sofa with Jehan. 'Don't worry,' Grantaire said, seeing Enjolras's worried expression, 'Buffy is pretty self explanatory. Vampire killer, has adorkable friends, falls in love a bunch of times- you'll pick it up,'. Enjolras nodded and sat down on the beanbag, whilst took up his position on the floor- nearish the beanbag.

Grantaire handed Enjolras the mug of tea, 'You looked cold,' he said and quickly looked away as Enjolras thanked him.

Jehan queued up the episode and leaned back against the sofa.

**********  
'5. Not cute enough to tempt me,' Courfeyrac said quickly. They were judging all the actors on screen, giving them ratings out of 10 for cuteness.  
'5? That's a bit harsh. I would go for 7. 'Spike' is an odd name and that lost points for me,' Jehan said as he scratched his nose.  
'What about that Angel guy?' Grantaire said, throwing bits of popcorn at Enjolras, 'He's pretty cute,' The rest of them agreed. 'And Buffy, I like her haircut, that would suit Eponine don't you think?'. Enjolras laughed and agreed.

It was good to see Enjolras relax and lose that stressed look he was wearing a lot more often nowadays. Grantaire smiled.

**********

Enjolras had wanted to ask for a while. He couldn't figure out if Grantaire was with someone or not. Not that he cared. He totally did not care. Still. He wondered.

'Is Grantaire in a relationship?' Enjolras asked, twisting his hands round a mug of coffee. He and Courfeyrac had arranged to meet for coffee before morning classes and they sat in a shaded corner of the Musain with cups of steaming coffee.

 

Courfeyrac took a sip from his coffee and threw a questioning glance at Enjolras. 'No. He's not 'in a relationship' as you put it. Well...... Not since Riley,'  
'Riley?' Enjolras leaned forward, intrigued, 'Who's Riley?'  
'Hmph.. I think the question is who was Riley? Because he was not what he seemed.' Enjolras edged his chair a little closer and wrapped his hands around the warm mug. Courfeyrac studied Enjolras for a second and seemed to reach a decision.  
'I'm gonna tell you. But.....keep it to yourself. Okay?' Enjolras nodded and Courfeyrac began,  
'Okay. So Grantaire was in his first year here, right, and everyone was wondering 'is this guy gay?' because it was rumoured that he'd had a boyfriend in college. Anyway, about a half a term in he comes home with this guy who he says is called Riley. He says its his boyfriend. Cool. Fine. I didn't mind- hell I was pleased for the guy, he had always seemed a bit lonely. Grantaire gets way more confident, his grades go up and he seems really happy for once. It was great, Riley was really helping him. Him and Riley did everything together. It was quite cute. They never argued and got on really well. But,' Courfeyrac took a long sip from his coffee and his voice took on a more solemn tone, ' About 2 months ago, Riley suddenly dumped him. No reason given, just a phone call and nothing. Grantaire was a wreck- I've never seen him like that before. He just stayed in bed, didn't eat, didn't go to class- nothing. And he was drinking a lot as well. Way more than he had bedore the break up. Then one day we get a knock at the door and its Riley. I tried to stop him from coming in but he ran past me and went into Grantaire's room. Then he tells Grantaire the truth......' Courfyerac gulped, 'It was a dare. Some dumb dare that his idiot friends had put him up to to find out if Grantaire was gay,'  
'What the actual fuck is wrong with people?' Enjolras interjected, gripping his mug so tightly that it looked like it would crack, 'Wait.... Why would he go back just to tell Grantaire the truth? Why did he even stay with him for that long?'  
Courfeyrac sighed, 'That's what gets me. I can't understand it. The only thing I can think of is that, after a while, he must have actually fallen for Grantaire. That would explain why they seemed so genuine together. And I guess in the end, he couldn't bear hurting him,'.

There was a silence. Someone at a table nearby laughed with their friends and ordered more drinks.


	4. A favour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enjolras has a favour to ask of Grantaire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok guys...... Sorry I haven't uploaded in ages but I promise I will finish this fic......eventually. I will try and update at least once every two weeks from now on until this is completed. :)

Grantaire loped into the room and crashed down at the foot of his bed. The late evening light filtered through the grubby window and bathed the room in half-sung light. Every now and then the radiator creaked and burbled- sending out waves of heat.

'Hey,' he said to Enjolras, who was sitting on his bed with his long legs folded beneath him, 'Wassup?'  
'Huh,' Enjolras raked his fingers through his hair, 'Nothing really, just lost in thought,'.

The 'real life' clock that Enjolras had insisted on having (digital clocks are so unreliable he had said when Grantaire tried to buy a rocket ship one) ticked loudly. Time dripped on.

Enjolras got up suddenly and began pacing the room. He sat down; flicked through a book; stood up again and went over to the window. He froze as if in some sort of trance then snapped out of it and went back to sit on his bed. He plumped his pillow and stood up again. Grantaire asked if something was bothering him. Enjolras sighed. He paused, seemed to come to a decision and sat down directly opposite to Grantaire.

'I need to ask you for a favour,' Enjolras said anxiously,  
'Well, it depends on what it is but I'll happily oblige- if its not illegal of course,'

Enjolras grimaced, 'That's kind of the problem. I need you to agree to it before I tell you what it is....'  
'Dude. I was joking. Its not actually illegal is it?'  
'No,' Enjolras said, looking mildly offended, 'I just need you to say you'll do it before I tell you what it is,'  
'Why?'  
'Because,' he closed his eyes, 'You might not do it otherwise,'  
Grantaire looked away. He pretended to have to think about. He pretended that he wouldn't do anything Enjolras asked him to. He pretended to be seriously considering the pros and cons and not just looking away from Enjolras's hopeful face.

He scratched his head.  
'Wellllllll..... I suppoooose my bad boy reputation is at stake here. I can't chicken out of something as ominous sounding as a favour I know nothing about,'  
Enjolras smiled for a second. 'So you'll do it?'  
'Sure,' In a bold move Grantaire grabbed Enjolras's hand and performed an overly complicated handshake, 'But,' Enjolras's smile disappeared, 'You will have to do me a favour in return,'. 

Enjolras smiled again and nodded, the day seemed a little brighter. The radiator buzzed and turned off and the room was silent.  
'So,' said Grantaire, pleased with his success, 'What's the favour?'

*************  
Grantaire drummed on the car's dashboard nervously. The car pulled to a stop at some ancient traffic lights. Enjolras stole a glance at Grantaire, then quickly flicked his gaze back on the road as Grantaire turned. Grantaire shifted in his seat and fiddled with his seatbelt. The traffic light buzzed orange, then green and the car pulled forward. Grantaire turned the radio on: then changed his mind and quickly turned it off. Somewhere outside a car screeched to a halt.

Finally, he turned to Enjolras and asked 'How homophobic exactly are your parents?'  
Enjolras fixed his eyes on the road. He sighed, 'That sentence doesn't grammatically make sense,' he looked over at Grantaire, 'Sorry. I'm just a bit stressed,'  
'That's fine. I just wondered....' Grantaire tailed off. At the next traffic light Enjolras answered Grantaire's question:  
'Not very. They just..... Well I think they just try to ignore it really. Every time I go there its the same thing "Here's a lovely girl, why don't you swap numbers. Oh, still gay. That's a shame." You know? And my brother will be there and he is such a dick,'

Grantaire laughed outright at the rare sound of Enjolras swearing. Enjolras looked over at him for a second, a flicker of a smile on his face.  
'Anyway, I just wanted it to be different this time. No girls pushed in my face or pointless comments about my singleness,'  
'I get that,' said Grantaire as the car pulled up into a posh looking drive.

He looked out the window. The house was fat, spotless white detached thing that nestled between two sharply trimmed hedges. There was a large garage of which Grantaire had no doubt that there would be two shiny BMWs lurking inside. Where there had obviously once been grass there was now carefully raked gravel. A home security system the size of Mount Fuji was aggressively attached onto the front of the house. There were no birds in the trees.

Grantaire gulped, 'Well that was fun, should we go home now?' Enjolras didn't reply but sat for a minute, his hand firmly gripped on the steering wheel. 'Come on,' he said, after gathering his strength, 'We'll come back for our suitcases after we've said hi,'.

They slowly made there way towards the door. The gravel crunched loudly behind them, leaving no chance of a stealthy approach. Grantaire through a glance at Enjolras but he was staring straight ahead, unblinking. Suddenly they were at the door and Enjolras knocked once on the polished silver knocker. 

Somewhere, inside, they heard footsteps drawing closer to the door. Just as the door opened Enjolras grabbed Grantaire's hand, tightly gripping his warm fingers. Grantaire was about to look over in surprise but the door was pulled open and he stopped.  
'Oh,' said the man at the door, 'Enjolras. Who's thi-'  
'Dad, Mum,' Enjolras interrupted and looked away from the man and woman at the door, 'This is my boyfriend, Grantaire,'.


End file.
